Adrian Henri

Adrian Henri (10 April 1932 – 21 December 2000) was an English poet and painter from Liverpool, best known as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology The Mersey Sound. (The other two were Brian Patten and Roger McGough.) They became known during the 1960s as part of the boom for the city brought about by The Beatles.

Quotes

• Tonight at noon
  Supermarkets will advertise 3d EXTRA on everything
  • "Tonight at Noon", from The Mersey Sound (1967).

• You will tell me you love me
  Tonight at noon.
  • "Tonight at Noon", from The Mersey Sound (1967).

• This is the morning that we burnt a cardboard hat
  • "The Blazing Hat, Part Two", from The Mersey Sound (1967).

• Well I woke up this mornin' it was Christmas Day
  And the birds were singing the night away
  I saw my stocking lying on the chair
  Looked right to the bottom but you weren't there
  • "Adrian Henri's Talking After Christmas Blues", from The Mersey Sound (1967).

• Love is feeling cold in the back of vans
  Love is a fanclub with only two fans
  • "Love Is ...", from The Mersey Sound (1967).

• Without you ghost ferries would cross the Mersey manned by skeleton crews
  • "Without You", from The Mersey Sound (1967).

• Prostitutes in the snow in Canning Street like strange erotic snowmen
  • "Liverpool Poems", from The Mersey Sound (1967).

• The daughters of Albion
  taking the dawn ferry to tomorrow
  worrying about what happened
  worrying about what hasn't happened
  lacing up blue sneakers over brown ankles
  fastening up brown stockings to blue suspenderbelts
  • "Mrs Albion You've Got a Lovely Daughter", from The Mersey Sound (1967).

•  

  GUIN
  GUINN
  GUINNESS IS
  white bird lying unnoticed in a corner
  splattered feathers
  blood running merged with the neonsigns
  in a puddle
  GUINNESS IS GOOD
  GUINNESS IS GOOD FOR
  Masks   Masks   Masks   Masks   Masks
  GUINNESS IS GOOD FOR YOU

  • "The Entry of Christ into Liverpool", from British Poetry since 1945 (1970), Ed. Edward Lucie-Smith.